Historian, Former Ambassador, Human Rights Activist

The Guardian reports that today Blair “did not pretend to be Miliband’s biggest fan, and he was notably more enthusiastic about Jim Murphy, the Blairite whom he described as the “great new leader of the Scottish Labour party”.”

How the right wing shill Murphy – a man well to the right of Thatcher on both economic and foreign policy – came to be chosen as Scottish labour leader will be a fascinating chapter in historians’ discussions on the strange death of that party.

I gatecrashed Murphy’s acceptance speech on becoming leader, at Surgeons Hall in Edinburgh, a few months ago. I discovered that his entire audience were paid apparatchiks of the Labour Party. I interviewed several as a journalist (I am an NUJ member – and none recognised me). Of the eleven I spoke to, not a single one had ever heard of the Henry Jackson Society. Which says something about the level of political education of Labour functionaries.

It also explains how we came to the remarkable situation that the result from Eastwood on May 7 will be awaited with much more anxiety in CIA HQ in Virginia and Mossad HQ in Tel Aviv, than it will anywhere in Scotland. That says something very remarkable about what has happened to the Labour Party.

I see that in “journalists” questioning Blair, nobody asked the obvious question, which is who was paying for this particular speech. Hitachi, my guess. He was asked why he is not sharing a platform with Miliband in this election. The answer is of course that not even Miliband is quite that stupid.

The Greek prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, began a controversial visit to Moscow on Tuesday as his debt-stricken country raced to meet tomorrow’s deadline for the repayment of a €450m loan to the International Monetary Fund.

With Greece suffering its worst credit crisis in modern times, the defiant leader flew into Russia amid speculation that president Vladimir Putin might make an offer of financial help he would find hard to resist.

As Tsipras departed Athens, officials said the Kremlin talks should be seen through the prism of Athens’ leftist-led government doing “what is best for Greece”.

They described the visit as being both “politically friendly and economically promising”.

The two leaders, who hold formal talks and a working lunch on Wednesday, are expected to sign an array of accords, including a three-year plan to strengthen economic and commercial ties.

The Kremlin meeting is also expected to focus on EU sanctions against Russia, which Tsipras has condemned as a “road to nowhere”. On Tuesday, Russia’s Kommersant business daily reported that a discount on gas deliveries was likely to be top of the agenda. Cash-strapped Greece imports 57% of its gas supplies from Russia.

I was at the Naval Hospital Exchange in Bethesda, MD on Sunday doing some shopping. I happened to notice a map on the wall there that showed the position of U.S. naval bases worldwide. There is still one on the island of Crete.

Mary at 4.43 pm. Yes thanks I did know about Monsanta and GM crops. Russia, as you may know, has put a ban on them. The other thing the Yanks are keen to introduce is fracking. I hope the US-fascist war fails. They are so blatant about it they are starting to train the Nazi Azov forces, who Resident Dissident has been applauding for breaking the ceasefire and attacking the little village of Shirokino on a daily basis, despite it being a separatist-held village.

When are they starting to train these Nazis? Glad you asked. On April 20th (Hitler’s birthday). The pro-fascist neocon-zionists who pay for this have no more shame than Resident Dissident himself. None whatsoever.

“They are so blatant about it they are starting to train the Nazi Azov forces, who Resident Dissident has been applauding for breaking the ceasefire and attacking the little village of Shirokino on a daily basis, despite it being a separatist-held village.”

I haven’t applauded anyone for breaching the ceasefire – if you bother to look at the OSCE reports re Shirokino you will see the local rebel commando claimed to be only 50% in control and denied access to OSCE observers. They also denied access to non Russian journalists but not Russian ones. The OSCE have recently see 5 Russian tanks in the vicinity of Shirokino – a clear breach of the ceasefire terms. And the rebels are now claiming to hold 100% of Shirokino. Given the rebels themselves claim to have increased their occupation of Shirokino from 50% to 100% even an ignoramus such as Johnny Goosestep should be able to realise who has claimed territory in Shirokino since the ceasefire. He will of course claim the OSCE reports are false fascist propaganda if they don’t fit in with the propaganda line that he receives from 22 Shuskina St or wherever. And of course he will never answer any questions raised about his own statements regarding the extent of the “homeland” that he encourages Russia to claim by force in breach of the ceasefire.

Absolutely. Any wavering thoughts I might have had for (New!) Labour are out, now that they’ve seen fit to wheel out that miserable war criminal. Astonishing, the prominence R4 appeared to give him for most of the day.

No, I’ll vote Green this time. Zero change of that getting a result for the Green Party – but (new!) Labour cannot count on my vote, not until they have denounced and purged the Blairite infestation inside the party, and kicked out everyone who had gone along with it. A Stalinist purge would not be too good for the bastards. But the Hague should have to do in the meantime.

If (new!) Labour want to know why I’m not voting for them, it’s because they are little better than the Tories. Rather than not voting at all, a Green Party vote will show the side they need to move on to get such votes. Not become ever more centre-rightist, pro-corporate stooges (like every since US representative, only several individuals excepted).

BTL propaganda in The Guardian? (Below the line: BTL communication use media that are more niche focused…BTL promotions are highly measurable, giving marketers valuable insights into their return on investment. These insights can then be used to inform the next BTL communication to the audience and tailor the messaging based on the feedback received.

I did notice, GCHQ et al, that the OffGuardian comments aren’t currently subverted, are on-message, and surely something must be done to remedy that – but you’re probably quite busy with the election & all the other chaos

As announced on Tuesday, the organizers of the conference, the British politician will take part in a discussion about how Poland can continue to strengthen its political and economic position in the international arena. According to them, ABSL conference will be one of the largest business events in our part of Europe.

Peter Dziwok, CEO and vice president of Shell Poland ABSL has estimated that the dynamic development of the business services sector is associated with the increasing professionalization and conduct more sophisticated business processes. – Conference ABSL is an important platform for discussion on how to further stimulate the growth of the industry – he noted.

Blugger’s going to look pretty fucking stupid if we pull out of the EU and he can no longer offer *his* government’s help pulling strings.

Krakow took 9th place among the best cities in the world for outsourcing sector investment

LOL. Blair’s patriotic devotion to giving Poles jobs transcends any lingering traces of loyalty to the UK. And THIS presumes to lecture us on anything at all?

“…Colonel Wilkerson has not presented any new evidence to support his allegation that detainees were held on Diego Garcia.”

Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, told VICE News in January that four well-placed CIA and intelligence sources had indicated to him that the island was home to “a transit site where people were temporarily housed, let us say, and interrogated from time to time.”